Hawaii Island veterans had a chance to air long-standing dissatisfaction with the health care they’ve received through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday night.
In a listening session held by Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard at the Kona VFW Post, Vietnam veteran Chip Kull estimated he would have to wait seven months before a problem with his shoulder is diagnosed.
“Trying to get a hold of anyone at the clinic is just horrid,” said Kull. “When I moved over here six years ago, there wasn’t even a doctor at the clinic. Gradually they put more staff in place but the wait just got longer.”
Carolle Wilson, a Navy veteran who moved to Kona from Hilo in October, said the choice seems to be a wait of two months in Hilo, or coming to the Kona side and being referred out. The VA Pacific Islands Health Care System serves 127,600 veterans in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, and has outpatient clinics in Kailua-Kona and Hilo.
Other veterans said things have gotten better at the VA than they’ve been in the past. Some said they’ve had good doctors and instances of quality care. But the overarching theme was one of a lack of resources and access at VA clinics. And the fact that none of this is new.
Gabbard, a captain in the Hawaii National Guard, told veterans that the recently unveiled problems with the VA have been no secret to those in the military.
“The things I’ve heard on the islands have to do with resources, and people saying, ‘I love the doctor but there’s only one,’” Gabbard said.
The visit was part of a listening tour Gabbard is holding across the state this week. Gabbard is seeking a second term — and is the clear favorite for the post — this coming election.
A 67-year-old Vietnam veteran who wanted to be identified only as Ken, said he’d need to see results before he backed any politician. Ken, who was in a wheelchair, said the VA has consistently ignored him.
“I had a neck injury, it got worse, and now I’m a paraplegic,” he said.
Gabbard has sent a letter to President Barack Obama requesting that he authorize veterans to receive private medical care outside the VA system in the wake of the recent scandal over long wait times, corruption and inefficiencies in health care delivery at the department.
Gabbard told veterans Wednesday night that the government must immediately address veterans who have fallen through the cracks and also “look at long-term systemic changes so we don’t have to face this again.”
“I think it’s important we capitalize on the fact that the country is now paying attention,” she said.
In her letter to the president, Gabbard said that veterans can’t wait for a new head of the VA or for the broken system to get fixed, and called for veterans to be able to get private care simply by showing their VA card, with the bill going to the VA. The measure would last 12 months while the VA debacle is sorted out. Meanwhile, reforms aimed at improving VA accountability and health care choices for veterans have been introduced from both sides of the aisle in Washington. But such measures fall easy prey to partisan bickering, Gabbard said.
“There’s always risk of getting sucked into that partisan black hole,” she said, “but I will do everything I can to make sure this doesn’t occur.”